Page 41 of Not Your Romeo
“What now?” Ro groaned, drawing air through her teeth as she lifted her gaze from the phone to my face and grimaced.
“Nothing bad. I was asking Sauce who is working at his new shop.”
“Your son has a shop?”
I nodded. “A tattoo studio.”
“Somebody getting ink?”
“You,” I informed her, before pulling onto the freeway.
She didn’t object, but she didn’t take her gaze off me for a while, either. I pulled up in front of the huge warehouse style building he’d secured for the place. There were a few cars out front, but I was only interested in the 1970 Monte Carlo with the license plate that read DRTY MOXI.
I pointed toward the cherry-red car, and told Ro, “That’s Talon’s friend Moxie. She and Sauce are the only ones allowed to lay Dirty Savage ink of any kind.”
“Oh.” Ro nodded, not yet taking her seatbelt off.
“You don’t have to get tattooed today but come inside so she knows your face in case you change your mind.”
“I– thought women couldn’t be Dirty Savages?”
“They can’t.”
Her lips and brows formed a question, though she offered none.
“You’re the president’s ol’ lady, if you want ink saying so, this is where it comes from. That’s all I’m saying.” I slowly spelled it out for her.
“There’s a special tattoo for that?” she asked, reaching for her seatbelt finally.
I raised a shoulder, “There is certain imagery that is associated with the club, sometimes it’s mingled in.”
She climbed out and followed me inside.
There were a few artists in the corner huddled in their workspaces with clients. Moxie had her back to me, a phone to her ear while she stared at a schedule book.
“Be with ya in a minute,” she called over her shoulder.
“You bet,” I shot back, causing her to turn at once.
She stuck her tongue out and grinned, waving, before she returned to her call. A few moments later, she hung up the cordless and hurried to the counter we were standing at.
“Sauce told me you got married, congrats, Ziggy.” Moxie rambled, before turning her attention to Ro, “Talon never invites me to anything.”
“This is Moxie. Mox, this is Ro, my ol’ lady. She’s not sure if she wants to be inked up today, she has class here in a minute.”
“No– I do,” Ro denied, “Do I get to see it first?”
Moxie laughed and waved her around the counter.
“There are two or three designs that can be put with the ‘property of’ tattoos, unless you had something else in mind–” Moxie paused and looked back at me.
“I’m good with whatever she wants.”
“Wait.” Ro looked up from the two scraps of paper she was holding, “Which one does Jolene have? I don’t want the same one she has.”
I laughed so hard I snorted, “Yeah right.”
“What?” she asked, when Moxie giggled.
